Nation's eyes on runoff to select Canseco's foe

By Gary Martin :
July 29, 2012
: Updated: July 29, 2012 10:57pm

WASHINGTON — A congressional race that has captured national attention will come into sharp focus this week when former U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of San Antonio faces state Rep. Pete Gallego of Alpine.

The winner of Tuesday's Democratic primary runoff will be the Democratic candidate to challenge Rep. Francisco “Quico” Canseco, a freshman San Antonio Republican who has a $1 million war chest.

Populated by equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans after redistricting, the Texas 23rd Congressional District — stretching from San Antonio to El Paso — is up for grabs and important for both major political parties' plans to control the House of Representatives.

“The nature of the district assures that there will be a competitive race in November,” said David Wasserman, a House analyst for the non-partisan The Cook Political Report.

The runoff also is competitive, and both candidates are pushing their voters to the polls in anticipation of a low turnout.

Although Gallego holds a financial advantage, Rodriguez overcame a blitz of negative advertising to receive the most votes in the three-way May 29 primary.

Rodriguez received 46 percent of the vote, despite being outspent 9-to-1 by Gallego, who trailed with 40 percent. San Antonio patent lawyer John Bustamante was eliminated in the contest.

The runoff “is an entirely different race,” said Gallego, 50, who scrapped his out-of-state campaign team and hired an Austin-based consultant.

“Voter-to-voter contact is the best investment, and we are doing a lot of that right now,” Gallego said.

Rodriguez, 65, said he is relying on a network of support built over time, and his name recognition, to win key precincts in San Antonio, Eagle Pass and El Paso.

“We have a grassroots effort that will help us now, and it will help us in November,” Rodriguez said.

Democrats need to gain 25 seats in their long-shot bid to regain control of the House. Canseco is one of several freshman GOP members nationally that have been targeted as vulnerable by Democrats.

If Rodriguez wins the runoff, it will set up a rematch of the 2010 race, which Canseco won with less than 50 percent of the vote.

A campaign misstep by Rodriguez, who lost his composure to tea party heckling, provided valuable advertising fodder that year to Canseco, who aired TV spots showing Rodriguez swatting at a woman with rolled up papers.

Some Democratic leaders regard Gallego as the better candidate to challenge Canseco.